The main scenario is our 3 year old wouldn't sit to poop! No matter what we tried...it could be in mainstream and when she would sit...it would stop immediately. Here's our journey...in a years time.
August 2013
Paige started in the 2 year old class at a local day school. She was one of the older ones, since she would turn 3 in November. She was doing very well at this point tee-teeing. And in the upcoming months would never have a teetee accident. Even stayed dry at night! We were on a roll with #1...but #2...not so much. Lol
Sept-Oct 2013. Expressed my concern with her pooping habits to doctor. She would stand with legs crossed and on tip-toes and get red faced to poop. I would change up to 6-7 poop diapers in a day... She wasn't necessarily constipated even though she would have bouts with it and occasionally would has to do suppository or stool softener. Our cabinets are full of pediatric stomach meds!
The dr ordered an X-ray to confirm no impaction present. Recommended mirilax daily regardless. So we did that.
January 2014. No improvements so our dr referred us to Ark Children's Hospital to see Dr Gibbons, gastroenterologist. He suggested a colon cleanse regimen, including to continue with MiraLAX once a day after cleanse. He was thinking that it was common… And most likely was "stool withholding".
We tried BIG incentives. We read books to her. We tried potty apps. We tried dumping poop in potty. We tried everything!!!
Feb 2014. No changes
March 2014 Dr Gibbons phone conversation...he said "do nothing!" Don't press it. Don't say "stinky" "baby" "you're not big". He was thinking psychological at this point and didn't want to do anything to set her back or cause long term effects.
April 2014. Well..."doing nothing" has provided "nothing"...no results.
She would even get in her stance and I would try to move her to the bathroom and she would yell "don't touch me!" That phrase became a regular one. So embarrassing in public places!
I decided to work with her on at least pooping IN the bathroom. And she got the hang of thaT. She would quickly stop what she was doing and run to bathroom to poop in her pull-up. I also encouraged her to stop crossing her legs and tip toeing, in attempts to get her to relax those muscles. She eased into that also!
The spatula was introduced in our household at this point. And it worked for everything...bedtime...bath time...supper...school drop offs. So I even threatened spatula with pooping in pull-up...to no avail. :( so I never mentioned it again. Hey I was desperate...don't judge. :)
May 1, 2014
dr gibbons recommended she see a child psychologist. I thought oh my gosh...is he serious?!
May 19, 2014. I was very desperate. The school told me she couldn't promote to next class if she wasn't fully potty trained. So...I met with a friend, Amber Shaw, who is a licensed child psychologist. She recommended the book "the potty journey". It was originally written for children with special needs… She assured me that she had used this with many of her clients! I read the book in one evening!!! Made notes and started the "charting of BM" the next day! The idea was to track the times of her BM. Unfortunately she was not real consistent… But after two weeks of this the books suggested to sit her on the potty 15 minutes before the predicted BM for 10 minutes… If no success allow her to get up for 20 minutes and then try again. This led to no success. Even with the help of "potty toys only", a stool, potty insert, and visual aids with the encouragement of relaxing....NO SUCCESS!!!
The teachers were so helpful. They charted and encouraged. They even showed her the big girl classroom she would get to promote to...and the big kid playground. But ONLY if she pooped in potty! Still nothing would help!
By end of May this process wasn't working...she was screaming. I was having to hold her on the potty. She didn't care about her "potty only" toys or anything else that had been promised to her... So. We tried a different approach.
June 2014.
We decided that since she had to stand… We would attempt to let her stand on top of the toilet. But in order for that to happen, her legs had to be spread apart. At this point she was still very tense upon standing. So I printed off some footprints and taped them to the floor. If she would stand on the footprints with her legs apart… She would get a reward. This was a very easy task and gave her a lot of confidence! We then transferred the footprints closer to the toilet… And then we transferred the footprints to a stool… Eventually the stool was put right in front of the toilet. She was at the point where she would run to her footprints when she needed to go… But she would still stand and go in her pull-up. By the third week of June I started doing a regimen of MiraLAX every other day because stools were much to loose for necessary control that she needed at this point.
The last weekend in June I let her stand on the stool and watch the iPad since the standing position at this point was still the only way poop would come. I took pull-ups away… And went to panties only! In one weekend we spent three hours in the bathroom with her naked...waiting on poop!!! When she felt the urge, we would go and stand on the stool, which was right in front of the potty… When Poop would began to fall out, i would encourage her to sit… And watch the poop fall into the potty!!! This was so exciting for both of us!!!! She felt so big and so proud! We take that footprint stool with us everywhere!! It's what adds comfort! We had a pizza party and she got lots of BIG prizes!!! And to date...she's doing well with this!
Baby steps! Next step... Sitting all the way!
See why I feel like I need to share this?! I searched for help....and got not much of anything online. Maybe this will help someone going through this. You're not alone!! Email me at ejc1@cableone.net if any questions. :))
I have high hopes that by August she will have the total hang of it. Fingers crossed!
Ps....this is by no act of doing this alone. I had lots of people praying with and for us!! God heard every prayer and every concern...small or big!! And I thank God for helping us along the way!!!
The neighbor's dog, Ringo, got to come over and play!! That was one of the incentives that she had been given!! We follow through with our incentives. Lol
